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Saturday, May 12, 2012

As I have said in some recent posts, I've been trying out a new French recipe each week. Before moving on to delve deep into the world of macarons, I decided to try making eclairs, once the darling of the French patisserie, before macarons came on the scene. The key to making delicious eclairs in making pate choux, the basis of the French cream puff, piping out the pate choux, and allowing it to puff up into eclairs in the oven. Then, the pastries are filled with homemade pastry cream and glazed in a chocolate ganache glaze. These only stay good for about a day, and are really best if you eat them right away, so I suggest making them for a party, perhaps for a French brunch. I was really happy with how these came out - they were nice and puffy and filled up easily with the pastry cream.

First, to make the pate choux, bring butter, sugar, salt and one cup of water to boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat and quickly stir in the flour. Continue stirring constantly over medium high heat until mixture pulls away from the sides and a thin film forms on the bottom, about three minutes. Transfer to the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed for a minute, then turn to high speed and add the whole eggs, one at a time. Beat on high until soft peaks form when you touch with the tip of your finger

Preheat the oven to 425. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or use silpats. Fill a pastry bag with a 1 inch tip and pipe oblong shapes onto the baking sheets at 2 inch intervals. Run a wet fork along the top of each to ensure even rising.

Cover one sheet with oiled plastic wrap and put in the fridge, until the first sheet is done. Bake 10 minutes at 425, then reduce to 350 and bake another 25 minutes. Turn off oven and prop door with a spoon and allow to cool in the oven for ten minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool and bake the second sheet the same way.

The pastry cream can be made ahead of time. Prepare an ice bath. In a medium bowl, combine the yolks and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Whisk in the cornstarch and flour and whisk until smooth. Set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine the milk and remaining sugar. Stir over medium heat until milk begins to steam. Then. whisk in the egg mixture, stir until smooth and return to the heat. Bring the mixture to a boil and stir constantly to prevent scorching until it forms a thick custard. Strain and place over icebath. Chill.

Fill the eclairs with the pastry cream using a pastry tip. To make the glaze, heat the cream in a saucepan, and pour the hot cream over the chocolate. Let stand until melted and whisk until smooth. Dip each eclair in the chocolate cream. Allow glaze to set.

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